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Happy Diwali

Be grateful… I never reply to Diwali wishes and hardly ever wish. No, I am not being rebellious… it is pure laziness. I have always been home during Diwali or atleast with parents. A lot of times we would have only 2 days off in school and final exams would be near. My school term was from March to November- due to extreme winters in Mt Abu and Christmas. The nuns wanted to celebrate X’Mas without nuisance and so they changed the school term.

Anyway, my parents were always around for Diwali except once… when I had joined the boarding. Parents sent loads of fire crackers for sis and me. While bursting them, 1 cracker went hay wire and almost hurt a kid. The nuns confiscated our crackers and no amount of begging and pleading helped. I hate all nuns… my hatred for them deserves a separate post altogether.

In the last 3 years, 2 Diwalis have been spent in Goa and 1 in Mumbai. I would have loved to go to Goa this year too. I went home instead after 3 years. Diwali has never been a happy one…. I won’t get into the details. I prefer Holi to Diwali. This time it was extremely low key ‘coz of my maternal granny’s death last month (maybe a separate post on that). Even on Diwali day I didn’t know it was Diwali and I realized about New Year too late.

In Gujarat, the 4th day is celebrated as New Year… everyone wakes up early, wears new clothes, decorates the home, lays out delicacies like namkeen, sweets, dry fruits etc. People go to each other’s houses and wish them. Generally, we would receive guests till afternoon and visit others in the evening. We would try and meet everyone… those we could not meet on the same day, we would visit sometime during the week. It was in Manipal I realized that New Year is a Gujju tradition. People outside do not follow it.

There was so much that I did at home:

I felt like I had never gone… my absence was visible on the walls… No, I never cleaned them or anything… but the effect my leaving had on the house residents was visible in their neglect

The first day I asked mom to cook besan ki sabji… which I could not make well last time I tried. I will give the recipe some other time… it is somewhat like ghatte… but better. Ghatte has only besan… while this veg has onions, anardana, chillies etc.

I took all the recipes I wanted. We wanted to make cheesecake but there was no time

I downloaded ZNMD and made my parents watch it… they were unimpressed

I downloaded Khuda Ke Liye since my dad liked Bol

Drove dad’s Manza and realized how smooth it was… now, craving for a car like that. He took me through the empty road and wanted me to drive at 20 kmph in traffic

Indulged in so many chocolates mom brought from New York…

Made fafdas- a Gujju specialty, made during Diwali

Ate Pav Bhaji at Honest Restaurant… and loved it

Opened all the cupboards and brought whatever I could. As kids, we loved exploring mom’s cupboard… it was always full of stuff and we could find something for ourselves

Had daal bhaati… being close to Rajasthan, it is a popular dish in my hometown. I plan to make it next week

The days flew past… I have been wanting the month to end, there is too much pressure. But the only holiday of the year is over and it does not feel good. I guess, I need to plan something for December to cheer me up.

Today has been relaxing. I flew back last night and reached home at midnight. There was no dinner since restaurants close down by 11 pm.

I woke up early… unpacked, washed clothes. The maid and cook turned up on time, thankfully. After buying groceries, I relaxed for sometime and then hit the gym. Now I am waiting for KC to arrive.